FISHERMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER
Man allegedly assaulted kitchen helper with a helmet
AFISHERMAN was charged at the magistrate’s court here yesterday with the brutal murder of his girlfriend last week.
Ali Ahmad, 55, nodded to indicate that he understood the charge read to him before magistrate L. Umma Devi.
He was charged with murdering Surinder Kaur Bedi Kirpal Singh, 37, by the roadside at Persiaran Bayan Indah between 10pm and 10.45pm last Saturday.
He was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
No plea was recorded from Ali, who was clad in a long-sleeved denim shirt and khaki pants.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Syafiq Nasrullah said no bail was offered for the offence.
“We are waiting for the postmortem and chemist’s reports.”
Umma Devi fixed May 9 for mention after asking Ali if he was suffering from any illnesses.
Surinder, a kitchen helper, suffered severe injuries to the head after she was assaulted by a man, believed to be drunk, with a motorcycle helmet. She succumbed to her injuries while receiving treatment on Monday.
She was so badly injured that doctors had given her a 50-50 chance of survival.
Later, a witness came forward to tell police that he spotted the allegedly drunk man hurling a motorcycle helmet at Surinder.
Police subsequently established that a lover’s tiff had led to the attack.
Reports of Surinder’s murder, which made national headlines, went viral when it was later reported that she was a Muslim convert despite the fact that her identification card labelled her as a Sikh.
The discrepancy raised eyebrows in the Sikh community, but in an interview with the New Straits Times, Surinder’s mother, Nazirah Bibi, 68, said her daughter had recited “kalimah shahadah” many years ago.
Surinder ’s immediate family had converted to Islam prior to her own conversion, and she would participate in prayers with them, said Nazirah.
“When we prayed, she would pray with us.
“In fact, two weeks ago, she met our religious leader and told him that she wanted to be buried with her family members, her deceased father Kirpal Singh @ Kurban Khan; and brothers Narinder Singh @ Irfan Khan and Balvinder Singh @ Abdullah, if anything happened to her.”